Chapter 26
Koe sat in one of the TV rooms on the main floor, going over plans with his Enforcers.
Daemon wasn’t on patrol, so his absence was odd, but Koe figured it had something to do with Narae.
He got it. He’d been reluctant to leave Jury last night.
He and Daemon had heard every word of their conversation, and while it hadn’t been intentional, it’d been enlightening.
It had him sitting outside of Jury’s room the better part of the night.
It’s how he knew that Daemon had spent the evening in Narae’s room.
When morning came, Koe had escorted Jury down to breakfast after showing her which room was Narae’s.
Jury had opted to let Narae sleep and thank fuck, because he didn’t know how he would have explained Daemon in Narae’s room, especially after her speech about needing to be alone to rest. Honestly, he’d expected Narae to toss Daemon out immediately after he’d slunk into her room, but it hadn’t happened.
After escorting Narae to breakfast, Koe had left her alone with her food, wanting to give her some space. She’d said he could stay, but he needed to talk to his pack and get updates.
Now, watching Jury step into the room, his attention zeroed in on her.
Beside him, Oliver’s words turned to incessant gibberish as Koe simply watched her ocean eyes flit about the room.
He noted how eager he grew, waiting for her eyes to land on him.
When they finally did, a zing of excitement shot through him as her eyes lingered a moment before she tore her shy gaze away and glanced down.
Fuck, she was beautiful. Even with the distance between them, he could smell the delicate femininity of her.
His jaw ticked once with the knowledge that the other males in the room could scent her too.
It pissed him off. He didn’t want them enjoying any part of Jury, not the sight of her, not the scent of her, not the sound of her voice.
He wanted her for himself, and that realization was jarring.
Koe had never denied his pack anything. Ever the dutiful Alpha, all he’d ever done was provide, but now, where Jury was concerned, he wanted to hoard. He wanted to keep her for himself.
Across the room, Jury glanced around nervously as she slowly inched toward him. She was looking for a place to sit, her tiny hands wrapped around the steaming cup of something she held. Eyes never leaving her, he elbowed Oliver hard and bit out, “You’re in her seat. Move.”
Beside him, Oliver fell silent and turned to finally notice that Jury had entered the room. He still wasn’t moving, and that pissed Koe off because Jury was getting closer and Oliver was where she needed to be.
“Move, now!” Koe ordered, eyes locked on Jury.
Oliver shot to his feet and hurried away just as Jury came toward the sofas that were full of his seated packmates.
With a smile he hoped wasn’t too predatory, Koe stood and extended a hand to her, “Sit here, Jury.” It came out as a command he hadn’t intended, and for a moment, he considered recalling it, but her being in a room of unmated males was making him feral in a way nothing had in a long time.
Jury’s lips parted, and her smile slipped.
She stared at him like she’d done something wrong.
Annoyed with himself for putting that look on her face, he smiled woodenly, trying to focus on the elation that was soaring through him as Jury placed her cup on the coffee table and settled tentatively into the seat beside him.
Reclaiming his seat, Jury’s thigh brushed up against his, putting his body on high alert.
Tearing his gaze from Jury, he frowned at his pack.
They were filling up his and Jury’s space, and he wanted to be alone with her.
Head angled sideways as he stared down at her, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching across her body to grip her knee that was furthest from him. With a gentle squeeze, he murmured, “Hey, beautiful, is everything okay? You look worried.”
Delight shot through him when Jury ever-so-slightly angled her body toward his. It was acceptance of his touch; it was silent approval of him using his body to cut her off from the other males in the room.
“Yeah,” she breathed and then gave a little laugh. “I’m good. Not beautiful, but I’m good.”
That had his brows spearing down. Not beautiful? What in the actual fuck was she talking about?
Suddenly, Hiro boomed, “Alright, boys, let’s give Koe and Jury their privacy.”
Koe appreciated Hiro’s consideration, but he never took his eyes off Jury. She watched as everyone got up and left. Koe noted that her expression turned a little guilty, then sad.
Unable to stop himself, he grabbed her and hauled her up so she was sitting sideways on his lap.
A startled gasp left Jury’s pink lips, and the instant she was settled on him, Koe knew he’d fucked up.
Touching her was addicting, and he needed to stop doing it.
Especially because he hadn’t asked. He was being aggressive, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help himself.
Flexing his hand, he tried to keep from touching her but failed in record time as his hand unflexed and slid from Jury’s knee up her thigh to rest on the swell of her hip.
Jury pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and wouldn’t meet his eyes, but he could hear the erratic fluttering of her heart.
She wasn’t as unaffected by him as she was letting on.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low and guttural, polluted with his barely restrained animal. “What’s this nonsense about not being beautiful?”
Jury’s cheeks flushed pink like she was embarrassed, and it had his already hard cock jerking in response as it strained against her bottom.
“I’m not…” she stammered, shaking her head and still not looking at him. “I’m not fishing. I just…” She shook her head again, “Can we talk about something else?”
Fuck no! His hand shot up to collar her throat, earning him a startled gasp, but she still refused to look at him. Koe let his fingers stroke over the rapid pulse in her throat before he slid his hand upward and forced her face toward his. “Look at me,” he commanded.
Hesitantly, Jury’s dove-gray eyes collided with his.
“You are beautiful, Jury.”
She tried to jerk her head away, but he held her firm, annoyed and a little pissed that she didn’t believe him.
“I don’t lie, Jury. I never have, and I never will. And do you know why?”
Instead of saying anything, she held his gaze as she slowly shook her head, her chin brushing against his hand in a way that had jolts of electricity zapping through him.
“Because I don’t have to,” he responded low. Silence reigned a moment before he informed, “And you don’t have to either. Not anymore. Not here. Not with me. You get that right?”
She just stared at him before he ordered, “Answer me. You know that, right?”
“Y-yes,” she stammered.
“Good,” he crooned. “Then answer me truthfully.” He waited a beat, debating whether he wanted to pose the next question, and then decided he was done avoiding it.
“Do you feel something between us?”
Her cheeks flared that mesmerizing shade of pink again as she tried to dip her head. His hand forced it back up. “The second I see you, or even sense you, I get this odd spike of adrenaline,” he admitted, then asked, “Is it happening to you too?”
Pinching her eyes closed, she breathed, “Yes.”
“What is it?” he asked.
Eyes still closed, Jury shook her head. “I… I don’t know.”
Finally, he asked, in a tone filled with anguish, the question that had been blaring in his head from the instant he laid eyes on her. “What are you doing to me?”
Eyes snapping open, Jury stared up at him, looking repentant. “I-I’m doing my best to stay out of your way.”
That had him barking out a laugh, his chest rumbling with amusement.
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight, murmuring against her soft, perfumed hair, “It ain’t working, baby.
” His humor tapered off as he realized just how screwed he was.
When he’d battled for Alpha in the Allegiance pack, it’d been with a plan in mind.
He’d spent years formulating how to have the fiercest, most feared pack in the northwest. The biggest part of that was his firm rule of no females.
No female packmates, and no mates. It seemed simple.
But now, with Jury’s body tucked up against his, he didn’t think he had the power to deny whatever in the hell it was that was building between them.
Jury whispered, “This is stupid.”
Her words had his brows furrowing. “What’s stupid?”
“This!” She looked right at him. “You make me feel seen, Koe. Even when you’re not looking at me. You and your wolf recognize me and mine in a way that can’t ever work. We can’t work.”
His lips thinned into a grim line.
“We can’t do this.” She shoved at his chest and tried to climb off him, but he tightened his hold. “Koe!” she pleaded. “Fuck! This is already too hard.” Tears welled in her eyes as she begged, “Don’t make this harder.”
“Make what harder?” he questioned roughly.
She ripped back from his hold, refusing to look at him as she stared at the wall and admitted, “I’m fighting hard to resist you.
To stay off your radar.” More quietly, she mumbled almost as if she were afraid for him to know, “We’re enemies, Koe.
” Finally, she blinked up at him from beneath dark lashes.
“We’re from enemy packs. You can’t claim me any more than I could accept your claim. It’s not allowed.”